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Generally speaking, there are many factors affecting the egg laying rate of a bird; the age of the bird, it’s care and housing conditions, and whether or not it gets free range to run outdoors; remember a happy hen is a productive hen.

On of the main determinants of a bird’s year round productivity is its breed. The breed of the bird will help to identify strong layers vs. say, show birds or dual-purpose birds. In addition to relying on hereditary traits for optimal productivity, many people supplement the amount of light their birds get with artificial lights in order to stimulate production.

For your convenience, we created this Supplemental Daylight Calculator, just enter your zip code and it will calculate and recommend how many hours of supplemental light you should apply based on the day length at your latitude.

Do eggs need to be refrigerated? It’s a question we get all the time. On the heels of last week’s post regarding Eggzy’s new ‘Last updated‘ feature, it seems like a relevant topic to revisit.

Yes, eggs are best when kept refrigerated – at or below 45°F is the standard and safe recommendation.

That said, we’ve all seen images of eggs sitting out on a counter, be it at a farmers market, the local diner or in a catalog or a magazine of a beautifully rustic kitchen setting. Additionally, I have made recipes that call for eggs to be at room temperature, which is typically much warmer than 45°F. It would seem only reasonable to assume that those eggs need to be out of the refrigerator to achieve the recommended room temperature right – so what is the threshold for safekeeping?

According to www.eggsafety.org, after eggs are refrigerated, it is important that they stay that way. “A cold egg left out at room temperature can sweat, facilitating the growth of bacteria. Refrigerated eggs should not be left out more than two hours.” But the Egg Safety Council is an industry organization sponsored by large-scale egg producers in large-scale facilities.

Perhaps that’s the key; perhaps fresh eggs, which have never been refrigerated, are less vulnerable than their already refrigerated, store bought counter parts. Let’s face it, long before there were refrigerators, people have been gathering eggs, storing, cooking and eating them. I’ve scoured the web with this question and have read similar commentary time and time again; farm fresh eggs (that have not been washed) seem to keep at room temperature for longer periods of time, without issue.

Maybe we need to rely on some best practices and good judgment here:

Do not keep eggs out for a prolonged period of time. If you know you aren’t going to use all dozen eggs, why not store them in the refrigerator, just for safekeeping?

Do not wash eggs under water due to the porous nature of the shells; eggshells actually have a protective coating that works to keep bacteria from seeping into the egg.

Well, you asked for it and we’ve added it, introducing the ‘update indicator’. Very simply, it’s the date of the last update made to an egg stand by it’s flock owner. There are two places where this information can now be found.

First, there’s the Egg Stand listing page, just click on the ‘Egg Stand’ menu item and you’ll be taken to the egg stand page. You’ll see that this list is now sorted chronologically with the most recently updated egg stands at the very top.

The second place you’ll find this information is on each individual egg stand page. Just click into an egg stand, and you’ll now see the term ‘Last Updated’ under the ‘Eggs’ section. That date tells the prospective customer the last time that flock and egg data was posted.

This information is helpful in two ways; first, it helps a user who is searching for eggs in their area to identify active flocks. Second, this information is important to know to ensure the freshest eggs possible, it’s a part of the transparency of food that we’re all seeking.

Please take a look when you have a chance and tell us what you think. We really do appreciate hearing from our members, your feedback helps to inform and guide us.

OK, I’ll admit it, I never thought I would find myself doing a Google search for ‘chicken art’, but recently, I found myself doing just that.

My original intent was to find art work for a project that I’m working on. And while I did expect to find ample examples of pet photos, what I was surprised to find was such a huge assortment of styles and quality from both amateur and professional (yes that’s right professional) chicken artists.

Below is a short list of some of the images and talent I stumbled across in my web surfing adventures. Interested in doing a search of your own for chicken art and artifacts? Maybe try other terms such as ‘Rooster Art‘ and ‘Chicken Portraits‘ – or even try other sites such as Pinterest and Etsy.com for one-of-a-kind finds.

Know of any inspired chicken artists? If yes, feel free to send us a link.